NEW YORK — Imagine that the sight of a certain color could make you panic, or that the touch of a familiar person could bring about fits of moaning and screaming beyond consolation.

For Christopher Boone, the hero of Simon Stephens' extraordinary new play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (***½ out of four stars), such experiences are part of everyday life. A 15-year-old who lives with his father in Southwest England, Christopher shows symptoms associated with Asperger's syndrome; he has a great affinity for math and anything involving the processing of data, but is uncomfortable around people and has a hard time understanding them, with their constant use of metaphors, incomplete answers and other strategies for evading difficult subject matter.

Curious Incident, which is based on the novel by Mark Haddon, takes us inside Christopher's gifted, troubled mind using inventive visual and sonic effects. The acclaimed National Theatre production earned unfortunate attention late last year when at one performance, after it had transferred to London's West End, part of the theater's ceiling collapsed, forcing a move to another venue.

As reproduced on Broadway, where Curious Incident opened Sunday at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, the design — scenery by Bunny Christie, lighting by Paule Constable, video by Finn Ross and sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph, with music by Adrian Sutton — is revealed as essentially minimalist, fusing state-of-the-art technology with old-school tricks like juxtaposing bright and stark hues.

When Christopher recalls frolicking on the beach with his mum as a little boy, strains of sweet electronica float on a stage framed in neon blue. When he throws a tantrum, or gets lost in a subway station, the result suggests an electrical storm and a hallucinatory nightmare, with commercial images flashing violently in the latter scene.

Ian Barford and Alex Sharp perform in "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time."(Photo: Joan Marcus)

Yet under Marianne Elliott's beautifully sensitive direction, Curious Incident is far more than a high-tech adventure story with a quirky hero. There is a murder mystery, but it's solved by the end of Act One. And while Christopher fancies himself a detective, the real discoveries are made by those observing him, including the audience — that we are all socially and emotionally challenged to some extent, and that communication and love in such a world require courage and acceptance.

It should be noted that animal lovers, and parents, may not find it easy to look past all the missteps made by the adults surrounding Christopher. But the marvelous actors here, who often juggle roles, blend a robust wit with an aching humanity that demands our sympathy, both in their separate parts and in giving voice to Christopher's memories and imaginings.

Alex Sharp, the recent Juilliard graduate cast as Christopher, is a revelation, his movement, expressions and voice making the boy's terrors and his ferocious intelligence seem equally natural. Let's hope that the season ahead brings more finds like him, and like this highly original, deeply engaging play.